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morning maryland. >> a monster is on the way and you should expect the worst. sandy means business this morning. we are working for you this morning with every thing that you need to know to keep you and your family safe. thanks for joining us it's monday morning. we have extended live team coverage of hurricane sandy the big story today. >> all right. let's get to meteorologist lynette charles who is tracking the storm letting us know when it could make its way into maryland. >> yes. as i say the next 24 hours is where we are looking at it to make landfall in the southern new jersey so with that we are going to be very windy and very rany and we have storm surge and also flooding that's going to be taking place. so it's staying strong. the wind sustained now at about 85 miles an hour. still moving off towards the north and it has not quite yet takeent westerly jog that the -- taken the westerly jog that will set its ice on us. we are dealing with plenty of rain pushing into the area. we can still see how large this system is. and these winds tropical storm

force winds extend well away. so this is going to continue as we go through the next several days. the wind aspect especially. but let's talk about the rain right now with super storm sandy and the heaviest rain is down to the south right now around ocean city. and it's moving across the bay. but look at the reds and the oranges now we are starting to see that around severna park and this is sliding up from the south and working its way off towards the west. and this is a storm that you don't see. you don't see a storm of this nature take a westerly jog. so this time of the year this is going to be one for the record books that's for sure. as we zoom in across harford county jarrettsville getting in on heavy rainfall pounding across the roadways along i-83 traveling you should not be traveling at this time. you should be watching and listening to see what's going to be happening and once you lose power, you should have our storm shield app because that's going to bring the weather alerts. let's talk about how much rainfall we will be receiving

once this is said and done. we are talking about 8 inches of rainfall in a lot of spots. we are looking along the eastern shore that amount and points south we could be seeing a little more than that. let's check the abc2 timesaver traffic with lauren cook good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this storm has suspended all mta service and the governor is urging everyone to avoid the roads if at all possible. if you are traveling in the eastern shore a lot of flooding right now in ocean city as we take a look at the draw bridge right now. this camera really being shaken up by the heavy winds in the area. there's a wind advisory for those of you traveling across the bay bridge. closer to baltimore, this is what 95 looks like downtown at 395. no flooding in the area yet. but it's certainly expected later today as the conditions doworsen. the roads slick and definitely remember never drive through standing water. extremely important to do so. with less than a foot of water can carry your car away. so avoid that if at all possible and try not to drive

if you don't have to. now over to you. a call for help this morningcrews are looking for ship 90 miles off the coast of north carolina. >> 17 people were on board. the hms bounty which is about 160 miles away from the eye of the hurricane. that is serious situation. you are looking at the last location in proximity to the storm. owner of the ship lost contact with the crew on sunday night. the coast guard reports that the boat was taking on water and couldn't move very fast. >> here's the photograph of the hms bounty that appeared in a number of documentary and was in the movie pirates of the caribbean. in june during sailabration this ship was docked in annapolis. and you may have checked it out. >> we will stay on top of that. if we hear anything we will let you know. it's raining right now and it's not going to be stopping any time soon but one big concern is flood fog if you had your home -- flooding. >> if you've had your home flooding you know how awful it

can be. sherrie johnson is down in fells point talking to neighbors and seeing how they are preparing for the worst. >> reporter: yes, we are here live in fells point where neighbors and business owners are basically bracing for hurricane sandy. and they have been taking full advantage of the sand right here this giant pile you can see. they grabbed sandbags for thepossibility of heavy flooding. now fells point is no stranger to flooding. they have experienced problems in the past with other storms on friday and saturday many people loaded up on sandbags to protect the homes and businesses from flood being. -- flooding. the city dumped a pile of sandbags here city workers gave away six bags per person and also checked identification to keep track of the bags. the mayor stephanie rawlings blake wants people to be ready because of the magnitude of the storm. there are three sandbag centers that are open. it's quiet around here right now. almost like a ghosttown. police are make rounds in the area making sure people are safe. a number of businesses in the

area have sandbags placed in the front of the stores and by thedoorway. preparing for the possibility of major flooding. you know fells point is a vulnerable part of the city when it comes to flooding. and you know, folks, they want to be prepared for anything that hurricane sandy may bring. reporting live in fells point, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. you know have thought of everything and getting rade for sandy you have the food and water and the lights and once the storm passed you likely will have a mess to clean up. angie barnett with the better business bureau is here with what to know to make sure you are hiring contractors but first people need to prepare for this just like they did. >> absolutely. one of the things we encourage people they have a little time we want to make sure they are putting together a prepared package that's going to have the insurance policy information, phone numbers to contact your insurance adjustor. it's going to have unique copies of the personal

information from your driver's license, social security card and passports and medical records and contact information. have that together in case we do have the big storm wind damage and water damage and you've got all that together. >> okay when people begin reviewing the policies, though, many kind get a shock when they realize i don't have flood insurance. >> and one of the things you want to do with the insurancepolicy read the exclusions. what do you not have. note that up front. a couple other things to know immediately filing time. how long do you have to file once damage is done to your property or car. the other thing you might ask is or checking out that policy, what does it cover right now in terms of if you had to go to a hotel or if you have to go out and eat. will any of those fees charges be reimbursed. >> we have 15 seconds how do we avoid scammers. >> door to door scamers watch out. anybody who is asking you to turn over the insurance check watch out for them and be very

careful read the contract in full don't pay everything up front. and make sure you do business with the licensed contractor. >> all right angie thanks so much for your time. >> thank you. >> be safe and get rest. >> thanks. >> thanks for coming. ocean city is a ghosttown after the effects of sandy being felt. you can see the waves becoming turbulent. all of those living in the downtown area there's mandatory evacuate set for 8 last night. forecasters fear sandy will collide with the cold front andmore of into a super storm. we can see a foot of rain as a result of that storm. we don't know how bad this is going to be but we know it's going to be bad. >> meteorologist james wieland is outside with a check of how things are so far and people may be opening the windows for thefirst time and what will they see? >> reporter: they will see rain and gusty winds, too. the rain sort of let up a little bit right now. and it was coming down a little bit harder earlier and if you

look up at the trees, not as much as we have been seeing but every now and then you get a big gusts to come on through. those gusts are 30 to 35 and, of course, we have been talking about it all morning. that's going to pick up to possibly even hurricane force gusts through the area. with all the leaves on thetrees, that means trees could topple over and power outages too. hopefully you did your preparations out there. people yesterday i noticed getting gas that's a good idea. go to the atm and get cash. that's a very good idea. here comes another squall coming on through where the rain is picking up and it will go downhill from here. stay inside like i've been hearing all morning stay off the streets unless you have to head out. back to you guys in the studio. >> we are getting a pretty good indication of the storm headed our way. >> coming up in bit, we will go to north carolina to look at the impact sandy is having along the outer banks. high wind and waves the storm pounding the coastline when it could -- what it could mean for

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sandy is churning up waves and sand in the north kleina south aer -- north carolina outer banks. look at this video. >> the forecasters expect significant storm surges in coast -- and coastal flooding. the storm sandy we are talking about is in between north carolina and virginia. it's make its way towards news what can we expect? let's go over to lynette charles who has been monitoring the storm for days. lynette, how is it looking right now. >> we have some rain out there. we have some wind and it's not as bad as it's going to get. we will really start to pick up the wind flow and the rain as we go through the rest of the afternoon and also the evening. and as it begins to make a landfall in new jersey tomorrow morning. so we still see heavy rain trying to push in across the area as of now. and out backside, that cold front that's going to meet up with the system is already starting to drop some snow. we are starting to see thatchange over. we will talk about that and talk about the track of this coming up. let's check the traffic with

lauren cook. >> reporter: well, all mta service has been suspended and on route 50 in ocean city it's been shut down apartment the draw bridge. -- down at the draw bridge. a wind advisory is in effect for the bay bridge and key bridge. this is how traffic is shaping up on 695. a lot of slick conditions right now. things going to get worse here in baltimore. we are tracking hurricane sandy right now. stay with us. we will have much more on the storm. stephanie rawlings-blake: voting for question seven is an...

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you'll be a perfect fit. let's get to work. thanks for joining thus morning. you wonder i'm going lose power and what happens in the event of a big storm like sandy and rachel from bge came in this morning to let us know how you guys have been preparing because i know a the love people worry about losing their power. you brought in aton of crews. tell us about sort of the evolution you have gone through from getting all the people here. it started out with a thousand workers you needed. >> it did. we started monitoring the weather early on last week. by wednesday, we started premobilizing our crews and requesting out of state assistance. the storm's path was uncertain for several days and we watched

it. as we see the intensity is building we had the opportunity to increase the number of crews we requested so we started at a thousand and by today we are requesting about 3,000 and we have 1500 of them already herein the service territory and they are pared up with bge crews and will do restoration work when safe to do so. >> when people lose power particularly for days on end, they get so angry. and they tend to blame you know the power company of course. what do people need to know in a situation where they lose power and might not have it for a while? >> the weather is going to continue to hit us for several days. some of the conditions the flooding and heavy rain and high wind and wind higher than 25 miles per hour we can't use the trucks. that will delay the ability to restore service. but we are working as quickly and safely as possible. the first 911 and d pump stations and the back line

of the system will set the largest number of systems into service. we give priorities to customers out the longest. but with the winds, the damage is very time intensive to remove trees from -- [audio not understandable] we ask customers make sure they give us a call to let us know what's going on with the situation and remain patient. >> let's get the number. >> 877-778-2222. we can use that number to report an out ogee or downed war -- outage or downed wire. >> don't assume because your neighbor called they know about your house not having power. thanks for coming in. >> thanks you. the new york stock exchange is going to close all markets today. this as a result of hurricane sandy of course. now on sunday it said that it would only close the physical trading floor and do everything electronically. the stock exchange building has to shut down because of the evacuations in new york city. and the nasdaq announcement will also help trading -- halt

trading today. >> we are work through you -- for you through the super storm stay with us with updates at abc2news.com and down load the weather app available on smart phones and the ipad. time for a check on the weather. let's go over to meteorologist lynette charles. >> all right. we can expect windy conditions and rainy conditions beginning to start and things are ing to continue to deteriorate as we go throughout the day. so we are waiting for sandy to make a landfall. we need it to make that westerly jog. it will do so later into the afternoon and evening time frame and that's when we look over the next 24 hours for a landfall. maybe in southern new jersey, so lots of rain being pushed onshore this morning. heavier rainfall as we look back towards the west this is where the front is going to come in contact with this system. and we are starting to see some of that snow. that changeover is happening as we have chillier air moving inbehind the cold front. this is what we can expect going through the morning and

the afternoon. the wind right now coming in at about 10 miles an hour in baltimore. and say you call it breezy but we have gusts up to about 35 miles an hour that's what we have been seeing across the area for today. but the sustained wind on the eastern shore coming in at 22 and patuxent river at 18 and look at ocean city coming in around 25 right now. more of the same in dover and also atlantic city. the wind will continue to bump up going throughout the day. but gusts right now 35 in dover and easton 28 so close to 30 there. and once again look at ocean city. wind gusts of 40. we are going to also be feeling sustained winds of tropical storm force as we go through tonight and also tomorrow. look at the gusts coming in at 70 and actually the further to the north and east you go, we will have hurricane-force winds. let's check the abc2 timesaver traffic with lauren cook. good morning. >> reporter: good morning all m- ta service -- mta service has

been suspend until further notice. looking live at route 50 in ocean city, the draw bridge now shut down. heavy winds in the area and we have an accident on route 50 along the westbound lanes at cape st. clair and another crash eastbound at rit itchie highway a wind advisory is in effect for the bay bridge and key bridge and this is where what the beltway looks like at baltimore national pike. prepare yourself for slick conditions in the baltimore area. things are only going to get worse. it's extremely important to remember do not drive through standing water. it cab lot deep than -- it can be a lot deep than it appears. -- deeper than it appears. now over to you. last place you want to be during a hurricane is on a cruise ship. >> we have pictures from passengers on a disney cruise ship that proved to be not quite as magical as they hoped for. >> and as we go to break a live picture of the brooklyn bridge in new york. that city's mayor ordered the mandatory evacuation of more than 3 75,000 people as sandy could be affecting the big

apple. >> we will be right back. aplçlçéd.ñ.ñhrókññoo[

a dream trip on a disney cruise turned into nightmare. the ship rocked in the ocean when it ran into high seas

because of our good friends sandy. water flooded the bar area. >> oh no. >> souvenirs covered the floor in the gift shop and a mess for passengers. and the crew had to clean that up. they were told to stay insidethe cabins. disney is offering those on board a discount on a future cruise make up for the rough trip. >> not the bar. save the bar. >> desperate times hurricane sandy is making its presence up along the east coast. >> stay with us. we have a live report from ocean city where people there and visitors are getting out of harm's way. >> we will find out how the hurricane is affecting local travel an update coming up in few moments. >> sandy has not made landfall yesterday and it's -- yet and it's bringing rain across the eastern shore. i will talk about when it will make landfall coming up. >> reporter: hurricane sandy shut down route 50 heading into ocean city and there are several accidents. more on the storm coming up on good morning maryland. this is a lot of food for 4 bucks.

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